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Professor Surya Monro

Biography

Surya Monro gained her PhD from the University of Sheffield in 2000 and joined the School of Human and Health Sciences at the University of Huddersfield in 2009. She has previously worked at a range of Universities including Cambridge, Keele, Leeds and Sheffield. Her extensive research experience has been primarily focused around the areas of gender, sexuality, citizenship and democracy. She has conducted research in India and South Africa as well as the UK, and contributes many invited presentations at national and international workshops and conferences. Her first sole authored book, ‘Gender Politics: Activism, Citizenship and Sexual Diversity’, was published in 2005 by Pluto Press. ‘Sexuality, Diversity and Equality’ (Palgrave MacMillan, with Professor Diane Richardson) came out in March 2012. Professor Monro’s sole-authored monograph about bisexuality was published by Palgrave MacMillan in 2015. Professor Monro has contributed to a range of public debates. She has been interviewed on Radio 4 four times and she published an article about bisexuality in Diva magazine in December 2015.

Professor Monro is the Director the Centre for Research in the Social Sciences (CRISS). She fosters the development of research in CRISS, across the School of Human and Health Sciences, and beyond, via a range of national and international collaborations. She provides a substantial contribution to reviewing academic outputs in her field, and she is on the editorial boards of the journal Sexualities and the Palgrave MacMillan book series Critical and Applied Approaches to Gender, Sexuality and Identity. Professor Monro also has various roles supporting positive developments in policy and practice at national/international levels. For example she is a member of Bi UK, represents Bi UK on the National Hate Crime Partnership, and is a Board Member of the European Professional Association for Transgender Health (EPATH). Professor Monro teaches at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Research and Scholarship

Professor Monro specialises in research about the citizenship and equality of lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) people. She has conducted research for a number of funding agencies, including the ESRC, the EU, the Leverhulme Foundation, UK government departments, and regional bodies. Professor Monro has, over many years, contributed to the development of transgender studies. She is currently the Principle Investigator on a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship about Intersex Citizenship (with Dr Daniela Crocetti as the Experienced Researcher and Dr Tracey Yeadon-Lee as the Co-Applicant). Current publishing projects include producing a Special Edition of Critical Social Policy on Transgender Citizenship in the EU with colleagues from a range of EU countries, and co-editing an edited collection for the Routledge Critical Diversities series titled Queer in Africa with Dr Zethu Matebeni (University of Cape Town) and Professor Vasu Reddy (University of Pretoria). Recent activities have included contributing to a large Equalities and Human Rights-funded project on tackling hate crime against LGBT people, and organising (as a co-applicant) a workshop (funded by the European Social Fund) on transgender politics which brought together leading European academics working in the field. In 2014 Professor Monro also led a project about the role of public officials in protecting LGBT people’s basic rights across 19 EU Member States, funded by the Fundamental Rights Agency. Previously, she was a co-applicant on a large ESRC project about LGBT Equality in Local Government, which addressed the themes of organisational change, resistance and democracy via the prism of sexualities equalities work in local government.

LGBT Anti-Hate Crime Campaign funded by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission and led by the LGBT Consortium. February 2015-March 2016 - £4,000.

‘Public Authorities’ project on the fundamental rights of LGTB persons for the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Belgium and funded by Fundamental Rights Agency of the EU (FRA), working with Graham Gibbs, Leanne Monchuk and Kris Christmann. February 2014-July 2014 - €22,000.

Exploratory Workshop: Transgender and Political Science in Europe: a comparative approach. 16-19 September 2014 in Brussels, Co-I with Joz Motmans at University of Antwerp, as Principle Investigator and Janneke van der Ros, University College of Lillehammer as second Co-I, funded by the European Social Fund - €14,800.

Part-funding to support production of paper titled Is Bisexuality Invisible? A Review of Sexualities Scholarship 1970-2015 Foundation for the Scientific Study of Sexuality - $1000.

Local Government Yorkshire and Humber (2009-2010) PI: Evaluation of Community Cohesion Strategies in Kirklees and Bradford (Regional Improvement and Effectiveness Pilot); Oct-March qualitative evaluation with strategic leaders, front-line workers and community members – £19,800.

Invited contributor to two films focusing on mental health vulnerabilities in the LGBT community produced by the Diversity and Inclusion Team at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London in collaboration with a community film-making social enterprise The Creative Colony, and stakeholders in the LGBT+ community.

On the Advisory Board of the research project ‘Pregnant Men: An International Exploration of Trans Male Experiences and Practices of Reproduction.’ Large ESRC funded project (PI Dr Sally Hines, University of Leeds, April 2017-October 2019).

On the Advisory Board of the ‘LGBT+ Employees Networks’ research project. Large ESRC funded project (PI Anna Einarsdóttir, University of York, May 2017-April 2020).

Conference panel organiser, for example at the 24th IPSA World Congress of Political Science, Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznan, Poznan, 2016 and the 4th European Conference on Politics and Gender, June 2015, Uppsala University, Sweden

Organiser of the Understanding the Social World international conference, University of Huddersfield July 2011.

Regularly reviews papers, books and book proposals for a wide range of publishers and journals.

Member of the LGBT Investment Taskforce (run by LGBT Consortium), 2017+.

Invited to facilitate a workshop at the Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria, titled ‘Overcoming Barriers: Strategies for supporting LGBTQI human rights across South African and UK contexts’ (February 2012).

Interviewed for Radio Four Woman’s Hour in 2006, Radio Four’s ‘Getting Bi’ programme (September 2012) and Woman’s Hour again in April 2012. Contributes to local media debates including on Radio Leeds and The Pulse (2011-12). Advisor to the media for example Radio Four programme about Non-Binary genders in 2016 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07btlmk.

External PhD examiner for the University of Warwick (2016), the University of Cape Town (2016), the University of Brighton (2014), Manchester Metropolitan University (2013), and the University of New South Wales (2010).

On the Advisory Board for the LIVEDIFFERENCE EU funded research programme based at the University of Leeds (PI Professor Gill Valentine, 2010-2014).

Advisory Board member for an ESRC project titled ‘Gender Diversity, Recognition and Citizenship’ (PI Sally Hines, University of Leeds, 2008-2010).

Advisory Panel member on a research project funded by the European Social Fund, titled ‘Tackling “multiple discrimination” and social exclusion at work: lesbian, gay and bisexual workers – and examination of the intersection between gender, race, age, disability and sexual orientation’ (2005-6).

Visiting Research Fellow, University of Newcastle UK (2007-2010).

Visiting Research Fellow, University of Cape Town (2008).

On the Editorial Review Board of Equal Opportunities International (2008-2010).

Special edition of Social and Legal Studies; Member of editorial board (2002-2004).

Co-organiser of the Gender, Sexuality and the Law International Conference (Keele University, 2002).

Research Degree Supervision

Completions

Marcus Lumb: Critical Realist approaches to masculinity. Marcus Lumb has received the Vice Chancellor's Award for an Outstanding Doctoral thesis.

Emma Turley, A phenomenological exploration of BDSM.

Robert Brooks: Occupational Practice in Children and Young People’s Mental Health.

Jean Hatton: Queering identities? Lesbian and bisexual women who are professional youth or community workers (PhD).

Sheena Miller: Supporting the learning disability nursing profession in meeting the sexual and intimacy needs of people with a learning disability (PhD).

Penny Ralph: Supporting the sexual expression of people with physical disabilities: examining client perceptions and experiences of assessment and interventions, and current practice in rehabilitation services (PhD)

Greg Wolfman: Male femininity: A critical reading of the subversive potential of new manhoods (PhD)

I welcome applications for research supervision on topics about lesbian, gay, bisexual, non-heterosexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and non-binary identities/issues, especially in relation to the following themes:

Enterprise Activities

Report regarding the causes of Hate Crime – for the University of Sussex/Equality and Human Rights Commission (2016).

Ethics and Integrity ESRC funded project about public perceptions of MPs (University of Essex, 2010).

Production of research review about homophobia for the Danish Consultancy within Engineering, Environmental Science and Economics (COWI) (2008).

Administrative Responsibilities

Professor Monro leads the Centre for Research in the Social Sciences. She sits on the School Research and Enterprise Committee. She is contributing to the organisation of the forthcoming REF and was Deputy REF coordinator for the 2013 REF submission. She is also the School of Human and Health Sciences representative on the Equality and Diversity University Enhancement Group.

Teaching and Professional Activities

Professor Monro provides supervision for Sociology and Joint Honours Final Year Undergraduate Projects, and guest lectures in a variety of areas.